Poverty and health: two different entities that are mutually dependent

Introduction 

Poverty and health are two different entities that are mutually dependent. Poverty’s main course is ill-health and sometimes, health is categorized as one of the factors that may lead to poverty. The relationship between poverty and health is, therefore, mutual. Healthcare is one of the parameters used to gauge the Human Development Index of any country and its access is always deterred by poverty (Gillis et al, 1992). Financial constraints may make citizens in a given country not access better medical services or even purchase better quantities of quality food. Alongside factors such as lack of information, the effect of poverty in a given population is greatly felt. In the case of ill-health, access to finances or vigor taking part in economic activities is greatly reduced due to inadequate energy in the body or generally having a weak body (Gillis et al, 1992). When an individual is in such a condition, poverty strikes since they will have nothing to take care of them. Purchasing medicine will, therefore, be a difficult task to most of the victims and hence some of their families are compelled to sell their personal effects and even their only assets to meet the medical bills. This eventually halts into poverty. 

Nations can economically be categorized into developed and developing nations. Developed nations have stable economic standings and this is gauged by the high HDI and the GDP. Developing nations are on the verge of having a satisfactorily stable economy and such nations have low HDI. The world is full of developing nations which include Argentina while developed nation includes Germany (Peters et al, 2008). Every nation began as a formless entity with low resource allocations and hence poverty was a common happenstance but absorbed by the virtue of low demand. Argentina was one of the countries in the past ten years that were categorized as one of the poor countries in the world. Given that poverty was looming in the country, health services were very difficult to access. After transformative political, social and economic evaluations in past few years, Argentina has strived in eradicating poverty to the last beat and currently access to basic health services is increased. Germany, in the past ten years, was never poor and the access to healthcare services was to standards (Peters et al, 2008). Currently, Germany focuses on making advancement on the healthcare services. They are ensuring that uninsured mothers and children have unlimited access to basic healthcare services in the country. 

Population demographics 

Argentina is a country based in South America which according to the national census of 2001 had a population of about 36 million. In the 2010 census, the population grew to 40 million inhabitants indicating a growth rate of 1.036% per annum (Moya et al, 2017). In South America, Argentina has the third largest population and in the world’s scope, it occupies the 33 rd position as the most populated nation. The country has a birth rate 17.75 births per 1000 with a death rate of 7.39 deaths per 1000.Life expectancy in Argentina is 77.14 years with a fertility rate of 2.29 children/woman. Germany is a country located in Europe with a total population of 82 millionwith a growth rate of 0.4 and a birthrate of 9.6/1000 (Jdanov, Scholz, & Shkolnikov, 2005). The death rates in the country are about 11/1000 and a comparatively high life expectancy of 81 years. 

Health and demographics 

Demographics aid in resource distribution in a country. In a highly populated country, it is anticipated that there will be a scramble for the health care services and perhaps resources in the country shall be distributed with difficulties. Development of health sector in a country is dependent on the political and economic status. Suppose a given country has a very stable economy, health provisions of the country shall be evenly distributed to the population despite the size. There will be no crowding in getting better healthcare service from the health facilities in the country. Suitability of health services is also dependent on the age groups provided by the demographic information about a country (Peters et al, 2008). Whenever the mortality rate of a country is high, with consequently low birthrate, it will be very much in order for the government of the country to ensure that the problem is solved. Resource allocation will, therefore, restructure and enough be supplied to the kitty of maternity.In instances of low birthrates may be as a result of nutrition problems towards the expectant mothers. In order to realize such a deficiency, demographic information is used to evaluate the need and health focus is done towards the target group, women. 

Health is inclined to the demographics. In Argentina, the healthcare services, compared to Germany's, are not advanced however much they meet the demand of the population. Argentina is a relatively large country with a density of 15 persons per square kilometer under the world’s threshold of 50 persons per square kilometer. It is very difficult to have developed health care services in Argentina since the population distribution does not favor the expansion. Compared to Germany, there are a lot of people who can be perceived to be utilizing the health services. When the general population utilizes the services offered by the government, they will always accept the challenge and try to give an advanced form. This makes the healthcare services advance. It is therefore anticipated that Germany has a way better health accessories compared to Argentina in relation to the population density. 

Economically, Argentina is a developing nation and this means that it is on a verge to fight the problems of infant mortality rates and death rates as triggered by poverty. The country seems to focus much more on other activities in the economic prowess than to offer good health care to its citizens. Argentina, therefore, suffers the tragedy of having underdeveloped healthcare facility. In Germany, health is a priority and the country or rather the government may spend whole its resources to ensure that its citizens have the best of the health services.When infant mortality is high in a given state, and at the same time the death rates are way above to stabilize the growth rate of the population, the government should strive to spend most of its resources in ensuring that the best is delivered in terms of health (Peters et al, 2008). High infant mortality stagnates the development of a country since there will be a limited number of the working force to help in the development of the country’s economy. This is also working in handy with the death rates. 

However, in Germany, the death rate is significantly low and consequently, the birth rate is relatively low. This means that there are a lot of elderly or older aged portion of the population being larger than the active part of the population which is composed of the youths. 

Germany has low birth rate yet its health services are very advanced. The portion of the elderly in the population is significantly high. When the population is majorly composed of children and the aged, the government gets involved in their medication and since they are uninsured due to their ages, they are given thebenefits of being elderly. The government, therefore, focuses on every one of its citizens and ensures that they are all doing well. Unlike in Argentina, Germany plays critical attention to the birthrates. In Argentina, the government seems to be controlling the birth rate due to what they perceive to be high population. In Germany, some instances the government requests the couples to give birth to more children due to deficiency of the industrial working force. The country’therefore, values every of its citizen and would not wish that they die of health-related infections. In such a case, the health provisions of Germany are way above those of Argentina. 

Discussion 

Poverty in 10 and 50 years 

Germany is a developed country and in 10 years, poverty shall not be a topic of discussion just like it is not known right now in the country. The economic stability of the country in 10n years to come will be way advanced and some other modifications of the health status and other social amenities shall beadvanced according to the technological dictates and even the population growth rate. In 50 years to come, poverty in Germany will never exist in citizen’s minds. By then, it will be completely out of discussion and advancements shall have been done to help in keeping the economic supremacy of the country notch higher. In developed nation poverty is a thing of the past and at no time in the economic lifetime will Germany talk about poverty or experience it. 

Argentina is a developing nation and in order to reach the verge of a developed nation, it will have taken a number of years to establish its economic stability. In 10 years’ time, the poverty level in Argentina will have reduced significantly than its current situation. Most of developing nations strive very hard to get out of poverty spree. Establishing a stable economy takes a lot of time to come about and this is can be estimated to be in 10 years. However, in the span of 10 years, Argentina will be trying her level best to get rid of some poverty traces (Streeten et al, 1981). By the end of 10 years, it will not be obvious that the country would be out of the jaws of poverty but there shall be a number of changes in the economic well-being of the nation. In a span of 50 years, Argentina, when hard work is put in place and work commitment effected, poverty shall be among the forgotten issues in the country (Streeten et al, 1981). However, it will take a lot of time for Argentina to be in the same or almost samelevel as Germany. 

Health in 10 and 50 years 

In 10 years, Germany will not have effected numerous changes in the health sector. Advancements shall be done on where improvements seem to have been done and all the appropriatecorrections in case any was needed, would have been done. The health status in Germany is far much advanced in general and in 10 years, the country will not have had numerous changes in the health sector. In 50 years, a lot of changes shall be done. A span of 50 years will give the country enough time to correct economic mistakes and everything that entails health sector which seemed to be very difficult to come by. Argentina in 10 years will be ending the wars on poverty and some of the diseases that can easily be treated. Some of the advancements shall have been affected to deal with the disparity that exists in the health sector. In 50 years, Argentina’s health care status shall be advance equipped with modern methods of disease handling. 

Strategies to reduce health disparity 

There are a number of strategies that can be employed to ensure that health disparity is reduced. Among the factors are Early Childhood and Education, the offering of income supplements to those who earn below a dollar, encouraging community development, and initiating employment interventions for those who may be jobless. The main concept of reducing the health disparity in the countries is based on the reduction of poverty. When the individuals in a given country are on a verge of earning, they will always strive to build the country’s economy. When the economy is built, resource distribution shall be in a good state and a number of citizens shall have access to the amenities. Employing the above strategies will ensure that poverty is dwarfed and health disparity significantly reduced. 

References 

Gillis, M., Perkins, D. H., Roemer, M., & Snodgrass, D. R. (1992). Economics of development (No.Ed. 3). WW Norton & Company, Inc. 

Jdanov, D. A., Scholz, R. D., & Shkolnikov, V. M. (2005). Official population statistics and the Human Mortality Database estimates of populations aged 80+ in Germany and nine other European countries. Demographic Research , 13 , 335-362. 

Moya, G., Dorado, P., Ferreiro, V., Naranjo, M. E. G., Peñas-Lledó, E. M., & LLerena, A. (2017). High frequency of CYP2D6 ultrarapid metabolizer genotypes in an Ashkenazi Jewish population from Argentina. The pharmacogenomics journal , 17 (4), 378. 

Peters, D. H., Garg, A., Bloom, G., Walker, D. G., Brieger, W. R., & Hafizur Rahman, M. (2008). Poverty and access to health care in developing countries. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences , 1136 (1), 161-171. 

Streeten, P., Burki, S. J., Haq, U., Hicks, N., & Stewart, F. (1981). First things first: meeting basic human needs in the developing countries.